Israel: army at the heart of social media fake news scandal
The Israeli army practices fake news and online manipulation (Illustration image). © Ronen Zvulun / REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The Israeli daily Haaretz reveals that the army has used fake social media accounts to influence or seduce public opinion. The facts date back to May 2021, during the war in Gaza. The Israeli army had already been singled out during this same period, for lying to foreign media in order to serve its strategic interests.
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With our correspondent in Jerusalem, Sami Boukhelifa
In May 2021, during the war in Gaza, the Israeli army deliberately spread false information. Several foreign media relay it. This is referred to as a "ground incursion by Israeli troops into Gaza". This fake news was intended to force Hamas fighters to entrench themselves in "tunnels" in the Palestinian enclave, to bomb them in the process.
Gaza was effectively crushed under a carpet bomb, but the Israeli maneuver failed. Because the leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian armed group in power in Gaza, had quickly understood the deception.
Online manipulation
This attempt to manipulate the foreign press "has shaken the image and credibility of the Israeli army," writes the daily Haaretz. The army acknowledged its mistake and apologized. But at the same time, the army continued to wage an information war, in the shadows. This time, directed against its own population.
His goal: to promote his achievements to the Israeli public. All through publications shared by fake accounts on social networks. Pinned once again, the army recognizes, again, a mistake.
► Read also: How Israel has established itself as a "cyber power"
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